1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a game to simulate stock car racing. The game is designed to be employed at increasing levels of sophistication and strategy. A random number generator is used to introduce the element of chance (chance itself plays a large part in results of a stock car race). A shuffled pile of event cards also introduce an element of luck but also increase the reward to a player for strategic thinking.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of a layout displayed on a board, or displayed electronically, as a playing surface to control the play of the game is old in the art. Certainly, one of the most famous board games is "MONOPOLY".RTM.. This game is an attempt to roughly simulate real estate development in Atlantic City. The player has a token which moves about the board based on random numbers generated by rolls of a pair of dice. The object of the game is to accumulate property and to bankrupt the other players by extracting rent from them when an opponent's token lands on property owned by the player. Another highly popular and well-known board game is "TRIVIAL PURSUIT".RTM.. Again, a roll of the dice controls the movement of the token around the board. A player's knowledge is tested by questions based on where a player lands on the board. A player who gets to the center of the board first wins. The player who has the greatest knowledge of trivia is likely to win, but an element of chance makes this by no means certain. These games may be played electronically as well as by use of a board.
One common type of game is one that simulates a race. One effort to simulate a track competition is found in Grant U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,609. This uses an oval game board and moving player markers, and chance is introduced by the use of dice and a stack of cards. Additionally, there are board games that simulate other types of track competition, such as horse racing or Indianapolis 500 races.
However, one of the most popular types of races to simulate is the stock car racing. This has become an increasingly popular sport growing from its primarily Southeastern roots in the 1950's to be a nationwide sport widely covered even in metropolitan newspapers in the Northeast. There have been many attempts to capitalize on its widespread popularity by introducing a "stock car" board game. One example of a game simulating a Stock car race is Trevisan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,267. In that game, each player receives a racing card game piece and a crew chip. A dial is spun to control the play of the game. A player must answer correctly questions on cards to advance his game piece. The player whose game piece advances the quickest around the board for a predetermined number of laps is declared the winner.
Another example to simulate a stock car race on a board game is seen in Hollar, U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,178. This game uses a board piece roughly shaped like a stock car race track with a plurality of lanes. Additionally, there is a "pit row" on the board. It uses a variety of charts to determine the course and type of movement along the track based on the rolls of the dice. Dice have different colors, which indicate which chart is to be used. Rules require the players to make decisions and employ strategy similar to that that could be employed by a driver in a real stock car race. This adds to the verisimilitude of the game and makes it possible for more skillful players to more consistently win the race.
Despite all of the above efforts, none of the games have enjoyed widespread acceptance in the marketplace. It is difficult to design a game that can be enjoyed with equal appreciation by people who have little or no knowledge of racing and sophisticated racing fans. Ideally, a game should be designed to be played at different levels depending on the sophistication of the player, require a short time to learn the rules, but a lifetime to master the intricacies of the game. A game that is too easy becomes boring over time. A game whose rules are too complex and difficult to learn will be enjoyed only by the most dedicated racing fans. Therefore, it is hard to strike the appropriate balance between a game so easy that it becomes boring and a game too difficult to learn.